A PROJECT BY ANTONIO ITURRIOZ

About Antonio

Steinway Artist Antonio Iturrioz is a concert pianist, documentarian and Director of the New International Godowsky Society. He was born in Cuba and came to the United States when he was seven. Iturrioz studied with his father Pablo Iturrioz, Francisco de Hoyos,Bernardo Segall (who was a pupil of Siloti), Aube Tzerko and Julian White. He has taken many master classes with Andre Watts, Byron Janis, Alexis Weissenberg and Jorge Bolet.

He has written, produced and performed two musical documentaries, each one a first of its kind. The Art of the Left Hand: A Brief History of Left Hand Piano Music, which Clavier Magazine called “an important film,” and The Buddha of the Piano: Leopold Godowsky which has received bravos from legendary pianists Byron Janis, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Carlo Grante and Gary Graffman among others. Both films have been shown on public television. The Buddha was shown 125 times in the U.S. in 2015. Iturrioz recently returned from Scotland where he played recitals and showed The Buddha of the Piano to the Edinburgh Society of Musicians. The film has been shown in Italy in Italian and will soon be translated into German, French and Polish. It has also been shown at various music festivals around the U.S. including the IKIF Festival in New York city.

In addition to his special interests in left hand piano music, and the life and music of Godowsky, Iturrioz is preparing material for a new CD to be called Gottschalk and Cuba, highlighting Gottschalk’s influence on Cuban pianist-composers. On January 13, 2013, in San Francisco, Iturrioz played the World Premiere on one piano of Gottschalk’s two-movement Symphony Romantique. The first movement Nuit des Tropiques had been arranged for solo piano, by Arturo Napoleãobut he left a part out. The part is so beautiful, Antonio Iturrioz completed the entire movement. And, the second movement had never been transcribed so again Antonio Iturrioz transcribed the entire second movement called Fiesta Criolla. As a result, the entire symphony was bought back to one piano, along the lines of what Gottschalk originally conceived.

Gottschalk wrote the symphony on the island of Martinique after living in Cuba for several years.Iturrioz was inspired to transcribe this movement for one piano. He played the European premiere of Symphony Romantique on one piano in Italy last year. For more about Mr. Iturrioz, please visit: www.NewInternationalGodowskySociety.com and www.TheArtoftheLeftHand.com